Library Restoration

November 24, 2017

The main library building reopened today after 9 months of extensive renovations. Work on the grounds and gardens continues.

The Library building will mark it’s 100th anniversary in 2022 and we hope that with this extensive renovation to the foundations, floor, exterior and grounds, the Neilson Hays Library will continue to serve the English language book loving community in Thailand for many more years to come.

November 23, 2017

Getting a start on the Non-Fiction and Children’s sections.

November 22, 2017

Working on putting the books back into the Fiction section.

November 21, 2017

Busy moving day with boxes to unpack and put furniture into place. Thank you Asian Tigers Mobility for your support!

October 25, 2017

Workers are working on the plaster work of the library’s exterior.

October 5, 2017

We are installing the air-conditioners today. One of our sponsors, DM Home also arrived this morning to deliver the sanitaryware for our new bathrooms.

September 26, 2017

We are busy today with more painting of the interior.

September 14, 2017

The painting of the walls and ceiling in the east hall is in progress.

September 6, 2017

The workers carry the paint into the library this morning. Interior painting work will start soon!

The locks also going to get fixed – 24 of them. Here they are being labelled and counted.

August 27, 2017

Restoration Progress

Our first phase of restoration is making steady progress. Our team is working tirelessly to restore and reconstruct the interior of the Neilson Hays Library building. The team has reconstructed the archways, which were originally created as partition to separate the rooms inside the library as well as the bookshelves. We have also finished strengthening the floor structure as well as removing the paint from the interior ceiling and walls. The repair of the interior mouldings and plaster is also finished. We are hoping to complete the first phase by September. Then our landscaping work will begin, which will takes another three months to complete.

On the funding side, we’ve raised 8.5 million baht so far, thanks to our generous sponsors and donors. We are especially grateful to our main sponsors: Boon Rawd Brewery Co., Ltd., James H.W. Thompson Foundation and Siam Commercial Bank for reassuring us that history, culture, and education still matter. We would like to also thank DM Home and Asian Tigers for their support, and, last but not least, our private donors who still believe in the power of letters and ideas.

We are still racing to reach our 10 million baht goal. If you wish to donate, direct bank transfers can be made to any of the bank accounts below. Thank you!

Our beautiful 95-year-old library is a rare, sacred space in Bangkok dedicated to books and culture. But the city has changed over the past century, and now the library needs major structural restoration.

We need to raise money to support this historic restoration project, so we’re asking you to please click on this link and donate.

Thanks to the movers and volunteers who hauled the boxes of books from the library building into our cafe, where we are setting up a mini-library to serve members during the renovations of the main building.

The mini-library will have about 4,000 books and opens this Saturday – come visit and check out a book.

Final day of packing up ahead of renovations: We would like to let you know that what an outstanding job the volunteers have done boxing up the books. Within two days the library was packed up and is now ready to move. We couldn’t thanking you all enough for your labor of love with the library.

Thank you Asian Tigers Mobility, Thailand for your support for our moving and storage efforts!

Half of the library is packed, another half to go. We’re picking classics, favorites & bestsellers for our mini-library, which will open in the garden cafe on March 18… so we can check out books again.

We’ve started packing up… last day opening the main building before closing for renovation. See you all again on March 18 at the mini-library we are setting up in the cafe so members can still check out books during the renovations.

During your recent visits to the library, you would have inescapably stumbled across the undulated floors in front of the Rotunda. There is also a progressively sloping area in front of the librarian’s office, to the right of the entrance.

At the request of the library board, architectural restoration experts have surveyed the building and discovered that the visible damages are due to much deeper systemic problems. After careful analyses, they have recommended an action plan for repairs as follows:

Replacement of damaged floor structure and wooden boards

Repair of damaged interior walls due to trapped moisture within the building

Replacement of roof tiles to restore the appropriate load bearing of the roof structure

Improvement of air conditioning systems to reduce energy costs and condensation

Improvement of ventilation systems to prevent humidity build-up

Improvement of compromised drainage system and flood prevention

Improvement of landscaping to better serve banqueting and members’ needs

Improvement of the restrooms and storage space around the inner courtyard of the property

Due to the immensity and urgency of these works, the repairs will unfortunately entail the temporary closing of the original building from March to August next year, during which time we plan to operate a small temporary library in the café building. We hope to resume normal operations in September, while work continues on the exterior and landscaping through December 2017.

For this disruption in service, your library membership will be automatically extended by 6 months.